From The Sentencing Project
Executive Summary
More than 450,000 people across the United States were released from prison in 2023, over four times the number 50 years ago.1 Today, a growing proportion of people are returning home after long-term confinement due to our nation’s harsh sentencing laws.2 Black Americans, who are not only disproportionately incarcerated, but disproportionately incarcerated for longer periods of time, comprise a large share of this population.3 As the sentencing reform movement scales back extreme sentences, it is critical to understand the obstacles to returning home after decades of imprisonment.4
Reentry, defined as the “process by which a person in corrections confinement prepares for release and transitions back into the community,”5 is often fraught with obstacles after shorter terms of incarceration. These challenges are compounded for people returning home after long-term imprisonment, because they have been isolated from their families and communities for prolonged durations.
For this in-depth study of reentry after long-term imprisonment, The Sentencing Project interviewed 33 people from seven jurisdictions: California, Colorado, Louisiana, Nevada, New York, Oregon, and Washington, DC. They served anywhere from 20 up to 43 years in prison and were 40 to 67 years old when they spoke with us. At the time of the interviews, they had been home as little as three months up to 42 months. Continue reading
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